Is English an easy language to learn?

Status
Not open for further replies.

RonBee

Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
If it were easy, we wouldn't need forums like this one. :wink:

During childhood, a person can learn two and even three languages with relative ease. As one approaches adulthood it becomes more and more difficult to learn new languages. It requires conscious application and considerable motivation.

:)
 

Red5

Webmaster, UsingEnglish.com
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
50% of voters say English is a hard language to learn. :-o
 

RonBee

Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Red5 said:
50% of voters say English is a hard language to learn. :-o

Of course it is hard. That is because learning English does not come "naturally" to them. That would probably be the case with any second language. When you ask if English is a hard language to learn what are you comparing it to--other languages? What method is used to make that judgement? Unless you have learned several languages, how are you to make a comparison that English is either harder or easier to learn than another? Also, there are differences between Asian and European languages. Is English harder or easier to learn than other European languages? If your first language is, for example, Chinese, learning English is likely to be harder in some ways than learning another Asian language.

:)

More important than whether it is hard to learn English or not is probably the question of whether it is worth the effort.

:)

[Edited to correct a capitalization error.]
 

Red5

Webmaster, UsingEnglish.com
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Very true! Polls are never perfect, but their results are often interesting. ;-)
 
W

whisper

Guest
I think if someone is desirable to learn English, it won't be hard at all. It is absolutely hard for those who complain there are too many vocabulary to learn but hardly pick up a book to read.
Many Asian students, include me, have difficulties with talking with English speaker because we didn't use English a lot.
This place is so useful that I recommand to many friends of mine to join.
 

blacknomi

Key Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Member Type
Student or Learner
Learning a second or foreign language is supper HARD. I've been learning English for more than 10 years. During my childhood and adolescence, English was an subject that was not used to communicate but to pass monthly stupid test. During college, English was evev farther away because we had different majors at school. Mine is education, all textbooks and projects are done in my mother tougue. In the past decades, English was taught in a rote learning way, every student seemed to be a ROBOT who can response to all questions AUTOMATICALLY without any one second hesitation. We had to memorize endless and tedious rules and vocabularies in order to pass the tests, and to get the certificates or degrees.

Now, it's changed. We teach English in a more communicative and interesting way, but the result is not what I expected. Students don't need to talk with foreigners, what turned out to be is the purpose of learning English is JUST not to fail in the exam. THAT's IT. I don't see any students who learn English for a communicative purpose. Say 1 out of 50 would do that. Pathetic, our education system sucks.

The most reverberating dispute on language learning is the lack of natural, practical and physical language environment. You can easily create an atmosphere of learning a language by turning on your TV and stay tune to English programs, or listening to English radio all over the world thru broadband internet. But, how to practice your speaking ability?

Learning English is one thing, speaking it is another.

When I write an essay, I can pause to ponder over the tense. When I talk, I have to manipulate two codes. Switching codes is not an easy task because of different grammatical systems. It's easy to make mistakes that even you want to slap on yourself.

If you have a conversation with a foreigner, it's a headache.

What makes real conversation difficult?
(A) clustering
(B) redundancy
(C) performance forms, like hesitations, false starts, caughs...etc
(D) colloquial language, like idioms, slangs or reduced froms
(E) rate of delivery
(F) stree, accent, rhythem and intonation
(G)Interaction, like negociation, attending signals, turn taking and topic nomination, maintenance and termination.

It's a chain of listening and responding.

I agree this is a rather good language forum where gibberish topics are forbidden. I'm not saying topics other than language are worthless. But there's a one bad, how can learners practice speaking ability here? hehehe.



Sorry for bad grammar. :wink:
 

blacknomi

Key Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Member Type
Student or Learner
I must say learning English is much easier than mastering it. :wink:
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
We've no objection to other topics, but we've had enough trouble in the past with certain topics that get out of hand. Discussing other things is always a good way to practise, but some topics have a tendency to lead to trouble.

"learning English is much easier than mastering it"- I'll let you know when I've mastered it how difficult it is. ;-)

I agree with your point about exams. Unfortunately, we are so exam driven that a lot of teaching has become simply cramming for exams, but I'm afraid we're stuck with that. ;-(
 

blacknomi

Key Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Member Type
Student or Learner
tdol said:
We've no objection to other topics, but we've had enough trouble in the past with certain topics that get out of hand. Discussing other things is always a good way to practise, but some topics have a tendency to lead to trouble.

Yes. Any topic is welcome. Just cultural and conceptual difference would accelerate bias establishment. :lol:

tdol said:
"learning English is much easier than mastering it"- I'll let you know when I've mastered it how difficult it is. ;-)

Sounds horrible!

tdol said:
I agree with your point about exams. Unfortunately, we are so exam driven that a lot of teaching has become simply cramming for exams, but I'm afraid we're stuck with that. ;-(

Susie told me teaching is one of the best ways to learn a language better. It forces you to study. I agree with her. Always learn some new ideas only when you are deeply involved in a certain activity.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
Exams do encourage discipline in learning, but here in the UK, they have become obssessed with them and are turning the eductaionl;a process into a drab drive towards conforming to mediocre standards. They also cheat to ensure that targets are met. I think testing is vital, but overtesting is harmful.;-)
 

blacknomi

Key Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Member Type
Student or Learner
tdol said:
I think testing is vital, but overtesting is harmful.;-)

This is interesting and paradoxical. How do you define overtesting? Strangely, I found it very practical at times, learners could take in information effortlessly through overtesting, no matter who is the target learner, adult or youngster.

Practice makes perfect works well. LOL!
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
When testing takes over teaching instead of looking at what is being taught, it is the first step towards excess. ;-)
 

blacknomi

Key Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Member Type
Student or Learner
The subject of this poll is considered somewhat confusing.


How easy is it to lean English as a second/foreign language?
or
How easy is it to lean English as a native language?

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 

RonBee

Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
This poll is directed to ESL learners.

:)
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
To me, i think English also study easy if you can practise and live in an English speaking area..., more you search and using correct grammar, but someone feel consider English is difficult if they live in a country which never speak or not enough material to study..., as me, (smile), anyway English is not difficult if you like to study it , invest more for English...
I want to improve my English kill..., hope you same ideal to me :oops: :)
.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
catvietnam said:
To me, i think English also study easy if you can practise and live in an English speaking area..., more you search and using correct grammar, but someone feel consider English is difficult if they live in a country which never speak or not enough material to study..., as me, (smile), anyway English is not difficult if you like to study it , invest more for English...
I want to improve my English kill..., hope you same ideal to me :oops: :)
.

Your English is very good for someone studying under the conditions you describe. I'd rewrite you text this way:

  • I also think English is easy to study if you can live in an English-speaking area and practise- more so if you search and use correct grammar, but some feel English is difficult if they live in a country where they never speak it and don't have enough materials to study, like me. Anyway English is not difficult if you like to study and put the time in.
    I want to improve my English skills and hope you feel the same as me.

Welcome, Catvietnam, and if we can help at all,then just ask. :hi:
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Yes especially english is easy than other language such as arabic, japanese chinese
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
furious said:
Yes especially english is easy than other language such as arabic, japanese chinese

Doesn't that depend? Many Japanese, Chinese, etc, speakers find English difficult.;-)
 

blacknomi

Key Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Member Type
Student or Learner
I can speak English fluently and accurately in my dreams. :wink:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top